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news
Brompton Ashford proposed factory (picture credit Hollaway Studios) 03.jpgNew “car-free” Brompton factory facing delays as traffic authority calls on bike brand to consider those with “no choice but to drive”
Folding bike brand Brompton’s plans for an ambitious new eco-friendly factory and headquarters in Kent are facing further delays after the highways authority raised concerns about the scheme’s impact on the local road network and the lack of any car parking facilities at the site.
Brompton first announced plans to move from its current factory in Greenford, west London, to a 100-acre floodplain in Ashford, where Ashford Borough Council aims to create a 60-acre public nature reserve including a community cycle path, in February 2022, before formally submitting its proposals to the local authority that December.
Initially scheduled to open in 2027, the proposed state-of-the-art factory and headquarters, which would double Brompton’s manufacturing capacity to 200,000 bikes a year and create up to 4,000 jobs, is focused on sustainability and active travel, and will include paths specifically designed for cyclists and pedestrians which will lead directly into the facility.
Under the travel plan drawn up for the site, no new parking spaces will be also created. Staff and visitors will instead be encouraged to cycle, walk, or use public transport to reach the factory, which will also have a visitors’ centre, museum, and café.
> Brompton unveils plans for new eco-friendly factory and HQ in Kent as it aims to double capacity
However, the active travel-centred nature of the £100m scheme now appears to have been the catalyst for a series of delays to the project.
Kent Online reports that National Highways has advised Ashford Borough Council to delay making a decision on the scheme – the fourth time since January 2023 that the approval process has been postponed due to National Highways’ objections – with the traffic body sending Brompton a list of concerns it wants to address before proceeding with its application.
In documents published in January, National Highways claimed that it had not heard from Brompton since July and “recommended that the application should not be granted permission until 10 June”, unless the folding bike company meets the body’s requirements and addresses its concerns in the interim period.
In a more recent document from last week, Christine Allen, regional director at National Highways, said: “We will be concerned with proposals that have the potential to impact on the safe and efficient operation of the strategic road network, in this case, particularly within the vicinity of the M20 and A2070 near Ashford.
“In carrying out our assessment, we are mindful of the highly innovative and sustainability seeking nature of the proposed development and the responses to date by KCC Highways on matters such as on-site and off-site parking.”
Chief among National Highways’ concerns is the requirement for a more detailed traffic and transport assessment to be carried out, especially in relation to Brompton’s desire to not include any car parking spaces at its site.
Assessments previously carried out by Kent County Council’s highways department suggested that the brand should consider alternative options for those staff and visitors who “have no choice but to drive”. This prompted Brompton to last year open discussions with HS1 Ltd, the owner of the multi-storey facility previously used by Eurostar passengers, and the nearby Ashford Designer Outlet to see if the company can share their car parks.
According to this plan, staff would be permitted to park their cars in the outlet’s south car park – located directly next door to Brompton’s proposed site – but on busy shopping days would instead be encouraged to park a mile away at the large multi-storey at Ashford International station, and walk or cycle the remaining distance to the factory.
National Highways has since acknowledged Brompton’s willingness to put these contingency plans in place, but says, however, that “this matter will have a bearing on trip generation, since if employees can drive and can park, many may do so”.
When contacted by road.cc, a spokesperson for Ashford Borough Council said that, as the authority responsible for approving or rejecting the plans, it “would not be appropriate” to comment on the status of Brompton’s planning application at the moment.
Brompton is yet to respond to road.cc’s request for comment, though we have been told that the company has now provided the necessary information requested by National Highways, addressing the traffic body’s objections.
In 2022, when the project was first announced, Brompton CEO Will Butler-Adams said: “As we face climate change, combined with poor mental and physical health in our cities, where most of the world population live, we need to adapt.
“There has been a global realisation post-pandemic that we need to change how we live in our cities, to design them around the people that live in them, not the automobile. Brompton has a large part to play in supporting that transition, but we need to have more space to innovate and create the products of the future.
“London was the inspiration for the Brompton and our success is in large part is due to our diverse and skilled staff who continue to nurture and develop our company. By choosing Ashford we can retain this strong connection to London and the UK, whilst being on the doorstep of Europe.
“We have a long journey ahead with the planning and development of the new site, but we’re thankful for the support of Ashford Borough Council, Hollaway Studios, and Quinn Estates towards achieving our combined ambition to build this revolutionary and sustainable bicycle factory of the future.”
After obtaining a PhD, lecturing, and hosting a history podcast at Queen’s University Belfast, Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.
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72 comments
Highways Agency seem to go to great lengths in restricting anything to do with active travel. You only need to look into their recent escapades of forcibly infilling bridge structures over disused railways, therefore preventing these disused railway routes being developed for active travel and destroying the surrounding environment with tonnes of concrete.
Fook Brompton for being senseless, and for discriminating illegally and wrongly against car users. Bikes are awesome, but it's hard enough to park already, and even avid cyclists aren't keen to ride every where, every day.
It's neither illegal nor discriminatory not to have parking spaces, unless there isn't sufficient provision for the disabled.
Not sure how much it applies to this location but don't forget about buses and trains...
Discrimination? What was that quote about "When you're accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression"? Of course it may not feel like it but drivers are right at the very top of the tree - just ... intolerably below some other drivers.
The proposed new facility appears to be well under a mile (1350m) from the exceptionally well connected Ashford International train station and Brompton are proposing that they build a walking and cycling path to it, so it could hardly be more accessible by public transport.
Exactly - this is one of those points - perhaps, hopefully - where we as a society start to grasp the potential of multi-modal transport with cycling.
It's not obvious until it's easy and ubiquitous* but here's what we could win:
(Old style)
New - even more convenient and you don't even need a manned station
Of course, having a unified public transit system that just has a single interfact (card you can use) is also a wild pipe-dream in the UK...
* I didn't get the point myself. Even when Abelio had the ScotRail franchise and had some rental bikes in a few stations. I think I still saw this as being like a city public bike scheme - but it only operated from a single point in Edinburgh (wasn't at Waverley)!? Useless! Also I though the bikes were "a bit heavy". But they're not designed for going for a 20 mile country ramble. They're for the last mile or few from a station or transport hub (possibly carrying shopping and another adult), then back there later. At that time I wasn't doing those kinds of journeys from the stations that had this.
Perhaps they could use a folding bike of some sort to facilitate the last mile?
if it's illegal not to provide car parking, can we start cases against all employers that do not provide parking for bikes?
In certain circumstances, very likely you can.
eg If you are unable to get a driving license for medical reasons due to disability, and your employer refuses to provide secure parking for your chosen mobility aid, I think you could have a case under EA2010 - as it would be a reasonable adjustment.
I have parking challenges for work etc. I generally think it needs to be priced to allow when "needed" but to discourage.
Eg for employees they could be allowed to park but charged each time they do, perhaps with premium prices if they do it a lot. If they car share it should be priced to be reasonable if there's 3 or more.
Encouraging car share always sounds useful.
The problem we have is if it's there it will be "needed". Then we've got the issue of separating who can, who can't and policing that. One of the great things about the car is it allows people to chain multiple journey tasks - and we build our lives around that ability (pick up shopping on the way home, zipping off for different activities etc). So we often start out the day in the car (maybe drop the kids off) and then we're using it all day and want to park at destinations.
Anecdata from conversations suggests price increases don't do much more than increase complaints*. What definitely changes people's approach is if they think there's a fair chance they won't be able to park nearby (and the wider the "parking difficulty" area the more people say "I'll get the train / share a life with someone who has parking" etc.
* Obviously there will be some "unacceptable" amount but I suspect that would need to be wild by current standards (30 quid per day?) and this risks running into the usual "it's only for the rich but not us now?". Also the complaining starts at any figure above zero - because we have an expectation of usually being able to store our cars in public space for free.
I have to admit that as soon as the cost of parking rises beyond £0.00 I will put in considerable effort to find a legal alternative place to park, this is probably because all my working life there was an excess of free parking at my place of employment and you get used to not paying.
Phizer in Ashford paid people a small amount for not driving.
Carrot rather than stick.
How did it work out? Was the car park noticably emptier? If so were employees mostly living locally, or did car-share become more popular (if that was allowed)?
Pfizer in Ashford paid people a small amount for not driving
They made a lot of money from sildenafil/ Viagra- designed for people whose device doesn't work because of vascular disease brought on by unhealthy living and lack of exercise (among other things) - so it was a noble gesture, encouraging people to exercise instead of slobbing it in the car
The answer to that one is the Workplace Parking Tax, and can be done now.
In Nottingham employers who provide >10 liable spaces (eg not disabled) for employees are charged approx £550 per year for each parking space they provide.
https://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/information-for-residents/transport-pa...
People who have no choice but to drive. FFS. There is not a single situation where anyone visiting this factory has no alternative but to drive themselves there. Taxis will be allowed, Disabled parking will be provided, Courier vans will be catered for. It's absolutely pathetic and disgraceful that a public body can reject this on the basis that they deem insufficient catering for motor vehicles, yet up and down the country they approve plans for large housing estates that ignore local complaint about insufficient protection and consideration for vulnerable road users.
The only way to get people to use bikes as a commuting vehicle or walking is by making it more convenient to use a bike, not the making of 0 parking spaces. There is always a situation where a car is needed; if you are disabled, transport big and bulky items, long distances to commute, that kind of stuff.
If for example it is easyer to just get a bike and cycle there, then I would definetly do that. Take the Netherlands as an example; most places do have parking places, yet there is always a bike lane that is often separate from the road, separate pedestrian crossing, that kind of stuff. If road design in the UK is car centric, then 0 parking spaces will make the commute very awkward. You cannot take the bike because there are no safe roads to use so you must take the car, but you cannot park it anywhere. Should I then walk through fields or something because this is easyer at my destination and safer in terms of road usage (no cars in fields)?
If there is good bike infrastructure (separate bike lanes that are not part of the car roads!) then it is only a question of time before bikes will be the main mode of transport, simply because it is faster in cities to ride a bike and avoid any traffic jams. Look at the Netherlands guys!
I swear that most people who cry "won't you think of disabled people" are the very last people who actually think or care about disabled people. Its just a really nice way to take the moral high ground when they don't want something to happen.
I don't hear many people complaining about the frankly awful state of our pavements, road crossings and the fact that in so many areas you cannot get a wheelchair/pushchain along the pavement because people have parked their cars so far onto them.
A new build estate near us has a cycle lane and pedestrian lane on the pavement and shock shock horror, the bike lane is just used as parking.
Selective concern, you mean?
I'd move production to Holland and rename the company to Obrecht.
This story is quite an interesting contrast to the new world cup final being in the Met Life stadium in New Jersey.
28,000 parking spaces and you have to take a taxi from the nearest hotel as you can't walk.
I was struck last year by an overhead shot of Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas, the parking looked massive - apparently thats circa 19,000. Found this showing the comparable area!
So do you park there and then get another car/taxi/bus to get across the car park?
Ive stayed in that hotel and while its odd, you definitely wont want to leave on foot. On game days though they provide shuttles etc. so its no different to a park and ride, only you can sleep and eat there too.
Yep.
It's an example of planning and masterplanning failure, in a society that has designed out non-motor vehicle options.
They did it all but by bit at each stage without thinking about the future.
For a comparator, London has I think around 6 fairly new venues in the 50-100k capacity range. The largest number of parking spaces I am aware of is 3200 at Wembley stadium for a 90k capacity stadium.
And both are around 10 miles from the city centre - says Google.
Bit off topic - but then if we want to change the world we would do well to understand it - but I think that's a question not a statement! I'm mostly a believer in cock-up, "things just happen" and evolutionary change (good enough right now wins, with zero foresight). But - to paraphrase Douglas Adams - around large concentrations of money reality is not merely warped, but bent.
I suspect conspiracies tend towards the small (as humans don't last long). However there were definitely some deliberate and questionable choices around plumping for cars and mass motoring - made by smart, powerful individuals and groups. Some of whom were definitely looking further down the track. There are some data points worth pondering like the invention of jay-walking in the US (literally transforming victims into criminals), the leaded petrol case and many more.
Anyway that's probably a *series* of books, not a comment!
The USA opted to have a planning and zoning system that in practice enforces use of motor vehicles. Eg if you can't have schools or shops, or even dog parks or different types of houses, in the middle of a large (miles by miles) suburban area, then attempts to encourage eg walking are basically f*cked from the start.
This is part of the same history.
A question covered very well in various urban design Youtube channels.
True, that certainly feeds into it. (I can't recall where those requirements actually came from or why - another rabbit hole I'll avoid falling into right now though).
The role of the military and war* is also maybe a factor (military-industrial complex etc). But again that's a whole 'nother library.
* Actually in all senses e.g. economic competition with those you distrust as much as active warfare.
“no choice but to drive” - so a crime not to drive?
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